Noisemaker 1
Opposition Youths
This week, it was reported that youths from opposition political parties in Lesotho accused a United States agency for poverty reduction of setting the controversial Land Bill 2009 as a prerequisite for aid.
They accused the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of masterminding the proposed law and dangling US$362 million in aid as a carrot.
Of course, the opposition youths are well within their rights to raise their concerns about the land Bill, especially as it is high on this country’s political agenda.
However, they have the responsibility of making an informed argument whenever they do raise these grievances.
By now, we expected the opposition to have crafted their own response to the land Bill, perhaps a position paper on why the Bill should not be passed.
Furthermore, the opposition would have done well to put things into context by presenting case studies on the issue of selling land to foreigners in other countries. How has this helped or hindered the progress of ordinary citizens in those nations?
Can foreigners create employment and wealth? Is land the only way to empower people? How will the value of land be affected?
By now, the economists in the ABC should have whipped out their calculators and done some permutations on the potential impact of this Bill.
As it is, it seems the only argument the opposition is taking to the people is the xenophobic one that the Lesotho Congress for Democracy government wants to sell your land to foreigners.
While it may win over a few votes, this argument is unfortunate because it takes advantage of the people’s ignorance about how their own personal wealth and the future development of this country will be affected in the long run.
It also ignores the simple fact that Lesotho is part of a global village.
Lesotho needs to bring its development standards up to the rest of the world and at one point or the other, the participation of foreign investors will play a significant role in this process.
Noisemaker 2
Guy who raped four guys
Once upon a time on this earth, men walked free and ruled the earth.
If you were a man you were master and lord of all around you. Of course, here and there you had to fight another man — for territory, land, cattle or such — but it was still recognised that you were a man.
Not so anymore in this world of today. Being a male is like walking on eggshells.
What with ultra-feminists at every corner waiting to interpret every single move you make when you are with your wife or any woman to see if you are not a male chauvinist.
If you try to discipline your child, some lawmaker will pounce on you and call it child abuse.
If you go to work in the mines so you can feed the family, you are called an absentee father.
However, all this pales in comparison to what four brothers were allegedly subjected to recently.
According to news reports this week, an instructor at a top security company was arrested on Monday for allegedly sodomising four trainee guards at the company’s training camp in Mazenod.
The alleged victims were aged 18, 21, 25 and 28.
Judging from their ages and the report, it appears the instructor took advantage of four young men who were just starting out in life and were desperate not to jeopardise their chances of finding a job in this recession-hit world of today.
Indeed, if it is proved true in court this instructor deserves the award of noisemaker of the highest order for taking advantage of young people who are desperate to feed their families and forcing himself on them in such a horrible, despicable manner.
If the court returns a guilty verdict, then the guy must get a lengthy jail term for further diminishing the freedom and independence of brothers everywhere.
Seriously, can’t a brother walk free anymore?
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